* I think I'm increasingly alone in this, but I still like reading the mainstream comic books Steve Gerber did in the 1970s, and chief among them is the first dozen or so issues of Howard The Duck. It's hard to imagine the confluences of forces that made Howard briefly popular coming together in the same way ever again, although you can still see echoes of it when something catches the public's attention in a way you know can't last. At this late date I think I appreciate most how the alienation of the comic series on the stands reinforced the alienation felt by Howard in the comics, but even that modest observation may be too much weight on Howard's very narrow shoulders. They were clever, amusing comics. As for the character, I suppose he'll show up in one of these Marvel event series with a gun at some point, if he hasn't already.

* today is apparently Stephen Wacker's last official day on the editorial side at Marvel; as mentioned in a stand-alone post a few days back, he'll be moving into Marvel's operations on the West Coast and away from comics-publishing proper. Wacker is very well-liked in that world and well-liked in comics generally; I have to imagine that's a huge blow for Marvel on that side of things if you want to measure things that way -- he was on the perpetual short list for future opportunities up the ladder, although there's no reason that has to have changed. I would say, though, in terms of the0 loss of it that Marvel seems to have a reasonable amount of institutional strength these days; I didn't get the sense that people were only there to work with Wacker or any construction like that. Wacker has always been very nice to me as much as our paths crossed and always struck me as aware of good comics generally. I wish him the best of luck in his new gig and in as much of a new life that comes with an opportunity like that one.

* not all comics: Abhay Khosla on a year of media consumption is exactly as fun as you'd imagine. I thought interesting the section on the critical reaction to Arrested Development being shaped by their decision to make it available all at once to replicate the experience of people gorging on entire seasons of television shows. I'm not sure I agree with it, but it's not an angle I'd considered before.